MetaChat - It's time for another Friday Night Question

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03 December 2010

It's time for another Friday Night Question chosen at random from The Book of Questions...→[More:]

#35- Would you give up half of what you now own for a pill that would permanently change you so that one hour of sleep each day would fully refresh you?

And this question comes with an optional bonus follow-up in the back of the book:

Do you feel you have enough time? If not, what would give you that feeling? How much has your attitude about time changed as you've aged?

post by: BoringPostcards at: 19:43 | 35 comments

Hello no. I love sleeping. And I think I'd get bored and/or overwhelmed with having so much time. Maybe if I were a more ambitious person I would want the time to become a doctor or write a book... But I'm not, I'm lazy.

posted by Specklet 03 December | 19:49

Sleep is the reward of the waking, so hell no.

posted by The Whelk 03 December | 19:58

Can we define "half of what I own"? I mean, quantity or quality? I think I'm taking half of my possessions to the dump tomorrow, in terms of quantity, but they sure aren't worth much. I'm going to throw out much more, I hope.

Of course, time is what I have at this point, and it goes very slowly most days. And sleep is when I don't hurt.

posted by galadriel 03 December | 20:22

No way. I love sleep. I have awesome dreams.

Most of the time, I have a little more time than I need - I get overwhelmed pretty easily. Recently I've been very busy, and it's starting to take a toll.

I marvel at how much time I have now compared to my time in high school and college. And the time I do have is quality time - I have no chores, no homework, no unnecessary extracurriculars. I get to do what I want, most of the time, and that makes things a lot more pleasant.

posted by punchtothehead 03 December | 20:34

Well, the last 6 weeks or so, I'm only sleeping 1.5-3 hours most nights and I can easily say that I've not sorted out any benefit to this. So...no I don't think I'd go for that even IF I did feel refreshed!

And, really, I do feel like I have enough time. I'm in no rush. There's lots of time, I'm pretty sure.

posted by richat 03 December | 20:35

Would you give up half of what you now own for a pill that would permanently change you so that one hour of sleep each day would fully refresh you?

I would, because of that fully refreshed part. I don't get that now from 8 hours of sleep. I do also like to stay up really late, but don't do it any more because I know I'll feel even worse as well as disrupting my sleep schedule for a couple of days. So it would be awesome to stay up until the early hours of the morning and still get up at a normal time, feeling good.

posted by FishBike 03 December | 20:45

I would do it. I could use the time to do more nothing. It is restorative and necessary.

posted by ethylene 03 December | 21:04

No. I love my sleep escape.

posted by chewatadistance 03 December | 21:06

C.S. Lewis' devil Screwtape warns his protege that Hell demands constant success from his efforts to corrupt human souls. He tells him, "How you will envy their sleep!"

posted by Joe Beese 03 December | 21:22

Where do I sign up? My sleep patterns (yes, plural) are horrible, and I rarely feel rested.

posted by Ardiril 03 December | 21:34

I live alone, and have no "relationship," and not much in the way of hobbies, unless petting the cat and watching a little tv count as hobbies. I have lots of time. I just bought this big fat book, and somebody asked me, "how are you going to work reading that in?" and I really did not understand the question. I sleep because I haven't got anything else to do. So, I do not think this question applies to me in any meaningful way. However, I know a couple of people to whom it would, and I think they would totally jump at the pill.

posted by JanetLand 03 December | 21:35

Yes. That's a good price, too. With my extra hours and lack of tiredness I could take on another job, do my classes justice, and have some kind of social life again. There tends not to be time, or the hours aren't right, for those things now.

posted by notquitemaryann 03 December | 21:55

In a heartbeat. A: I don't own much anyhow B: sleep has been my enemy since puberty C: I work two jobs and go to class four nights a week, so any extra time would be bonus.

Seriously, sleep has just become a biological function for me. I get as much pleasure out of it as I do taking a shit, most days.

posted by ufez 03 December | 22:30

Yes.

posted by apoch 03 December | 22:57

No. I don't find this idea remotely tempting. I like sleep and --- to an extent --- I like the finiteness of my time, in individual days and in life. I didn't even have to consider this offer.

Now, if you offered to take half my stuff --- or even all of my physical stuff --- and to remove the chronic back pain that makes it hard for me to sleep and makes everything else take so much longer than it used to? That, I'd be tempted to do.

posted by Elsa 03 December | 22:59

I'm tempted. It depends on whether I get to pick which half of my stuff goes. I could certainly use the time.

posted by ThePinkSuperhero 03 December | 23:16

Absolutely! I have insomnia, and when I do finally fall asleep I wake up exhausted, so this would be like a miracle for me. (I would hope I'd get to choose which stuff to part with, though)

posted by amyms 03 December | 23:41

I love sleeping but I'd give away most of my stuff to have an extra six hours in every day to do stuff. Also that waking up refreshed thing, I'd give away ALL my stuff for that. That said, and relevant to the second question, I'd just read books with that extra time and not, you know, clean my bathroom or anything. In fact I'm sure I'd have a hilarious blog "What I do with my seven to nine extra hours of waking time per day" [yes I sleep about 8-10 hours a night now] and it would be all about eating candy and taking night photographs. Also if I only needed to sleep an hour per day [just the idea of knowing I could do this and be fully refreshed is so totally amazing....] I could turn my bedroom into a guestroom and solve the one fatal flaw in my apartment. Hmmm, I like this idea. And I do love sleep.

posted by jessamyn 03 December | 23:41

YES. I used to fantasize about this.

Like others, I enjoy a nice relaxing sleep-in every so often, so I'm assuming that even though you didn't need extra sleep, you could still indulge if you wanted to.

I would be so happy to have more time to pursue my interests. I hate that my waking life is so much consumed by work, and getting to and from work, and doing laundry and cleaning house to be ready for work, and trying to unwind from work. I have piles of arty-crafty things i want to work on. I don't have time to play music any more, or write songs. It's difficult to squeeze in a workout. I miss the time I had just to dream and futz around, back in the day. If I could get 7 more hours, I'd feel I got my life and myself back, like I wasn't selling ALL my time away.

and yes, the "fully refreshed" is a really important clause.

posted by Miko 03 December | 23:50

-fully refreshed?
-could hang with the kid and work while she sleeps!

win.

posted by gaspode 04 December | 00:01

Hell yeah. I'm kind of stuck in that situation right now, whether I'd like it or not. Unexplained insomnia: gotta love it!

posted by Madamina 04 December | 00:19

Absofuckinglutely!

I sleep about 6 hours a night and never really feel refreshed after that but, if I sleep longer, it doesn't seem to help. Plus, I ever seem to have enough time in my life and, once all the things I have to do are done, there's no time for things I want to do.

posted by dg 04 December | 00:21

Nope, no way. I love sleep more than anything. Time is good and yeah, it would be nice to have more of it, but I'm not giving up my dreams which are like the best movies ever made or my lovely, comfortable, blank, happy dormant hours to actually walk around in the world that depresses me. Sleep is what saves me. Being awake mostly sucks.

posted by mygothlaundry 04 December | 00:37

Absolutely!! I don't own much now and with all those extra hours I could work like mad, party like mad, relax like mad, then get my 1 hour of sleep and be completely refreshed! Oh, yes please!

posted by Betony 04 December | 01:31

I think so. This isn't a deal with the devil where I end up paralyzed below the waist or something though, is it?

posted by fleacircus 04 December | 01:32

Janetland wrote my answer for me, even down to the big fat book.

posted by Senyar 04 December | 04:09

Nope. I truly love sleeping and dreaming. I like my stuff, too.

posted by bearwife 04 December | 04:45

Stuff is just stuff. Considering that the last time I woke up feeling well was in 2005, yes in a heartbeat.

Bonus answer: there is never enough time.

posted by warbaby 04 December | 09:11

JL, Senyar - I hate it when people ask that. My usual response is, "I've made reading a priority, so scheduling it in isn't really a problem for me."

But I'm a pretty mean person sometimes.

posted by punchtothehead 04 December | 09:13

Doesn't the body need sleep to do its repair work? Would the body suddenly gain Wolverine-levels of healing if I only slept an hour? I feel like an hour of sleep would leave me falling apart, no matter how refreshed I felt.

Besides, I feel like I'd go insane with 23 waking hours of the day.

posted by gc 04 December | 09:16

Much of my real life is lived while I'm asleep, during which times my waking life is referred to as a dream.

posted by Obscure Reference 04 December | 09:23

Presumably everything that we own includes not just "stuff" but things like savings, home, furniture, car, computer, books, clothes.

So I'd need to figure out if I could actually function if I gave up half of what I own.

If I could, I'd likely take this deal.

For one thing, it's always been a bit of a pain for me that I'm far from being a morning person. If I needed only one hour of sleep, I'd have the best of both worlds, all the good stuff that comes with being a very early riser and total freedom to be a night owl too.

Plus, this is basically the equivalent of being offered an extra decade or few of healthy, productive life. Which has to be a very good thing.

posted by philipy 04 December | 14:23

Ha, I couldn't get to the Friday question until Saturday so you bet, I'd take that pill! I sometimes resent the amount of time spent sleeping. Plus I rarely wake up refreshed so that would be a plus too.

And to answer the bonus question, no I don't feel like I have enough time. If I could get to all the things I should (or want to) do, then I would feel like I had enough. Time has become so much more precious as I've aged. I don't want to waste time in this one chance at life! I didn't get that when I was younger.

posted by nelvana 04 December | 15:50

Nope, I love my stuff. Also, I think it would be lonely to be awake by myself when everyone else was asleep.
And how would that work with a partner? You'd be like vacuuming and doing a bunch of stuff and they would want to kill you.

I don't feel like I have enough time, but I wish I could just work less instead.

posted by rmless2 04 December | 17:40

No.
Not that I love my stuff. Rather, I dearly cherish my sleep time.

posted by Thorzdad 05 December | 10:22

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